Addiction
by powergirl1729
Summary: Once a ranger, you never get over being a ranger. A look at how addictive the power can be.
1. Withdrawal

AN: So this is a little plot bunny that came from spending too much time on youtube. I was watching some videos about the rangers that had been on multiple teams or had returned for the special team-ups and it occurred to be that some people *cough cough* Tommy, just never seemed able to pull themselves away from being a ranger. This is a little different than most things I write because I prefer to write lighter, fun stories than angst so I'm not sure how this turned out so please review. Criticism is appreciated just as much as complements.

As Jason dragged himself out of bed, he could only think of one word to describe his new depression. "withdrawal" That was the only way he could label those feelings. He'd never done drugs, alcohol, or anything addicting before but he'd heard about the symptoms many times and they matched up pretty well.

As he stood, the world seemed to spin uncontrollably and his hands shook when he tried to steady himself. He couldn't even force himself to walk with half the confidence that he had as a ranger.

When you were a ranger, life was easier. The power gave you extra strength, endurance, speed, not to mention sped up brain function and enhanced all five senses. That must be why when he'd given the power to Rocky, the world had felt so dull and he'd felt so weak.

It hadn't even taken a day for him to realize just how much he'd lost. he first noticed it when he walked home. He'd walked the same route he did every night, but that night he felt so tired by the time he'd gotten there that he could barely open his door.

His front door was the second thing that caused him to notice his weakness. When Jason had been a kid, he'd barely been able to open his front door. It was a big door, several inches thick and made of some extremely dense wood. As he'd grown, he'd learned just how much strength to use to open it. He'd first noticed his enhanced strength when he nearly took that sturdy door off its hinges. The day he'd lost them, he'd had to use all his weight to open it just like he had when he was young.

Trini and Zach didn't comment on his new weakness, probably because they felt the same thing. They were all off their game, even Trini who always had it together no matter how upset she was. The peace conference was hardly the vacation they needed to get back on their feet. It was extra hard because without the power helping them focus and think, they could barely understand what they were supposed to do let alone how. None of them had ever had concentration problems before, but the crutch of powers had crippled them it would take more time than they could afford to recover. The others students noticed and most helped the ex-rangers get through the harder parts of the conference.

Jason poured himself a glass of water, noticing that it felt heavier than it should be, while thinking about the advantage of not having the power. The one good thing about losing the power was that they're metabolism had returned to normal. There was no more eating snacks in between every class just to keep from passing out. In fact, Jason felt good knowing that three square meals a day filled him up perfectly.

The downside to that was he also need more sleep. Before, any one of them could sleep for less than three hours a night and function fine in the morning. Being the responsible teen, Jason had slept for as long as the power let him. Sleeping in class had ceased to become a problem for any of them while the power was still theirs. Now he had sleepless nights tossing and turning unable to stop thinking about the power, only to stagger through the day barely able to open his eyes.

Someone was knocking on his door; it was the hall counselor waking him up as always. He staggered to the door and sleepily told the older boy that he'd be ready soon. He closed the door and took a deep breath.

In a few months, the peace conference would be over; maybe he should go back to Angel Grove and beg for his job as a ranger back. Even if the new rangers didn't want to give up their powers, there had to be some secret extra power for him to use.

He walked out of the room stumbling over to the dining hall. Zach and Trini were eating together silently. The barely reacted as Jason sat down. After a minute of silence, Trini spoke softly, "Have you guys heard from the others?"

Jason shook his head and continued eating robotically. Zach nodded yawning, "I called Billy the other day. It sounds like Rocky, Adam, and Aisha are taking to the powers really good"

No one had the energy to even laugh at his messed up grammar. They barely had enough energy to figure out what the correct grammar would be. Trini shoved her cereal away and laid her head down on the table closing her eyes, "Can I call in sick? It's not technically skipping is it? I really feel sick and I don't think I can make it through today"

Zach shook his head, "I don't think I can make it though any day. If we skip every time we don't feel well than we would never show up", He put a shaking, but reassuring hand on her shoulder, "It will be over soon enough. We'll feel better"

Jason wasn't so sure. Even if they ever got out of that slump, it would never be as good as having the power.


	2. Extended Use

AN: Chapter numero dos. Most of the chapter are going to be unrelated one-shots in the same universe. In case any of you were curious, the reason that I picked Tommy and Adam to be the main characters was because they were in the most seasons and if any rangers has an addiction it would be them.

At first, the power had scared Tommy. Who wouldn't be sacred by what had happened to him? No one would really say that his first experience had been a good one. After all, he'd been brainwashed and turned on the first people at Angel Grove to even talk to him. Not the best introduction to Angel Grove or to the power rangers.

It had gotten better after that. He'd gotten so used to the power that by the time it was gone, he couldn't imagine living without it. It was like a bad craving, always tugging at the back of his head. He'd gotten it back and continued to be the green ranger, but that hadn't last very long. As if the power was toying with him, he'd ceased to be he green ranger yet again.

Everyone noticed he was in a bad mood so he'd left so the others didn't notice how bad he really felt. All he could think was that he he could just morph one more time and feel the adrenaline rush that came from fighting, then he'd be better. He was lying to himself; one more hit of the power would never be enough.

It really wasn't long before Zordon re-recruited him. At least, in perspective it wasn't. At the time, it had felt like years. Everyday seemed to drag on and the more times he reached for his communicator only to feel his bare wrist, the longer it felt.

Of course, the second he was teleported into the command center, he had agreed to continue being ranger. He barely waited to be asked before agreeing to everything. Why would he hesitate? Risks like death meant nothing to him. Every day was death without power.

When he morphed again, this time into the White ranger, it was like water for a dying man. He could barely contain his energy. It was even better than the green powers. That second, he knew that he would never be able to give up the power. It was too strong and too compelling to even consider giving up.

When he had the white power, he was determined not to let a second of the power go to waste. He knew that the others thought he was crazy for always jumping around like a little kid when he was morphed, but he was too juiced to care what the others thought. He'd calmed down by the time that the power coins were destroyed, but luckily that didn't cut off his supply.

No one questioned when he continued on to be the red Zeo ranger. Most of the others, Billy excluded, made the same transition, probably clouded by the same addiction. Zeo powers were very different from the power coins. They sated the need for power more than the power coins, but he never felt as juiced with them. They also seemed to be less addictive. Tanya, being the only one never to use a power coin, never understood them when they talked about how amazing having the power felt.

As far as addiction went, Tommy had it the worst out of all of them. Tanya had never been addicted in the first place, and Kat had a level of self-control that none of the boys had. Adam was nearly as addicted as Tommy, but Rocky was the only one who never seemed to really _need_ the power.

Perhaps it made sense that Rocky ditched the power because of that. The others continued as rangers taking the turbo powers without question. Tommy had always wondered how powerful the two powers combined would be, but neither Alpha nor Zordon mentioned it, so he guess it was either impossible or would kill them.

The turbo powers didn't last long. Demetria had asked, for the first time, if they considered giving away their powers so that they could live a "normal life". Kat and Tanya had both agreed before the two boys could say that it was the worst idea they'd ever had. Adam easily resigned himself to the fact that the girls would win the fight, but Tommy refused to give them up so easily.

He and Kat were fighting for a solid month, secretly; they didn't want Justin or anyone else getting involved. She won, eventually, when Tommy got too tired of fighting off her very logical arguments. It was hard to win when you're only argument was, "I can't give up the power because I'm so addicted that I might not survive going cold turkey", which he couldn't bring himself to admit out loud.

They gave the power away and as they walked away from the transfer, they were all silent. They all moved sluggishly and stiffly. The loss of power was immediate and they had been living off the power for at least two years, three in Tommy's case.

They tried forget the power and live normal lives. He and Kat went to the same college. She took advanced classes already knowing that she wanted to be a diving coach. She had here life planned out as if she didn't feel the addiction like the others.

Tommy, on the other hand, had no idea what he wanted to do beside being a power ranger. He knew what he needed was the adrenaline rush. He decided to take classes in paleontology because it was rumored to be the easiest major to get at the college. The rumors turned out to be true and he skated through the classes with practiced ease.

The general lack of difficult classes gave the former ranger plenty of spare time. He did every extreme sport he had time for which only caused an even bigger addiction for adrenaline.


	3. Fighting Back

After losing the turbo powers, Adam just felt numb. Next to Tommy, he'd had the power the longest. He'd handed the power to Carlos, grinning stupidly acting as if not being a ranger had been a good thing. He watched Kat taking the keys from Tommy as their red ranger robotically moved to the passenger's side without compliant.

Kat tried to show that she was holding up better than the others, but her hands were shaking visibly and it took her a solid minute to get the key into the ignition. As the ex-red and pink rangers drove away, Adam got into his own car slowly. Tanya was already dozing in the backseat and he wished he could join her.

Pushing all thought of sleep out of his mind, he struggled to start the car, having just as much trouble as Kat. When the car started, he began driving slowly back towards Angel Grove. The road ahead of him was blurry and it took all of his concentration not to drive off the side of the road. Moving at less than twenty miles per hour, Adam thought he was doing a pretty good job at not crashing, until he heard the tell-tale sound of sirens.

Tanya woke up slowly as her driver was pulled over. Adam was shaking in the driver's seat and looked back at her. Tanya forced herself to sit up and leaned forward so she could see the policeman that was peering suspiciously through the window.

"Have you been drinking tonight?"

Adam shook his head, not trusting himself to speak because the words would come out slurred and weak.

"Step out of the car and give me your license"

Adam got out shaking even more than before. The second he tried to put any weight on his feet, his knees gave out and he had to grab the car for support. He pulled himself upright forcing himself to look straight into the eyes of the officer.

"You still say you haven't had anything to drink tonight? You'll make it easier on yourself if you just admit it"

Adam took a deep breath, thinking about his answer carefully before blurting something that would only make him seem guiltier. "I haven't had any alcohol or done any drugs. I think it's just really low blood sugar. I haven't eaten all day"

It was a lie. They'd eaten less than an hour before the power transfer, but it was the only explanation that would make sense. The policeman didn't believe it, and went back to his car to get a breathalyzer. Tanya got out of the car. She was much more stable than Adam, but still pretty wobbly. "I can drive now"

Adam nodded. He looked like he was about to collapse on the spot and had no problem with giving her the keys. As the policeman returned with the machine, Adam straightened himself out in a failed attempt to look not-drunk together.

He passed the test much to the policeman surprise. The man looked closely at Adam's pale face and seemed to finally buy the whole low blood sugar story. He turned to Tanya, "I take it you'l drive now"

She nodded, "I shouldn't have let him drive, but I drove last time and we usually alternate. I didn't think"

He nodded and walked back to his cruiser. Adam collapsed into the back seat, eyes wide open. "I'm sorry", he muttered tiredly, "I could have gotten you killed"

Tanya started the car sighing, "You wouldn't have gotten that far. I trust you to know when to stop."

She looked into the rearview mirror to watch Adam rubbing his wrist mournfully. There was an almost comical tan line where his morpher had been. As she focused on the road again she realized that that statement wasn't completely true. In order to stay straight on the road, she focused all her attention on the road trying not to think about the ex-green ranger had fallen asleep when he spoke from the back seat.

"It was a bad idea", muttered Adam when he woke up ten minutes later.

"What was a bad idea?"

"Giving away that power. We should have kept it. What would be so wrong with serving as a ranger for our entire life? Think about it, what else could we do that would possibly compete with we've already done?"

She sighed replying, "I always dreamed of going to Hollywood and becoming a world famous singer. That would be different. Don't tell me that you don't have any dreams that don't involve being a ranger"

Adam didn't respond and the next time she looked back at him, he was fast asleep again. She didn't bother to drop him off at his own house. Instead, she drove to her house and they both dragged themselves into her room. Adam collapsed on the floor before they could even discuss who would sleep where, so Tanya proceeded to lock her door and fall into her bed and pass out.

Adam woke up the next day finally knowing what having a hangover felt like. Tanya was already up and getting ready as he pulled himself off the ground slowly. She gave him a look that told him that he looked even worse than he felt.

"You should go home now, Adam", Tanya was oddly chipper. It was probably a front to hold off how bad she actually felt, but Adam couldn't even comprehend how she pretended to energy. He nodded and stood, waiting for the world stop spinning before taking a step towards the door.

He stumbled, muttering, "We should get our powers back"

Tanya shook her head. "Don't start that Adam. We gave up our powers so that we could _move on_. And that's what we have to do. Why are you so messed up about this?"

Adam looked at her searching desperately for words to explain the obvious answer. All he could think to say was; "I need the powers. We all need the powers. Maybe you don't feel it as much, but don't tell me that you don't feel like crap now."

Tanya crossed her arms sternly replying calmly, "I feel the addiction too but, I'm fighting it. If we want to get better than we have to fight the addiction. No one gets better by keeping the same bad habits. We have to struggle through. We've faced tougher monsters than this and survived."

He shook his head, still not understanding her resolve, "No we haven't. Monsters, I can handle. There's no way that I can handle this"

Tanya looked at the ground guiltily and looked back up tears forming in her eyes, "Adam, if you want to fight this then I'll help you, but if you're just going to lie down and take it, then leave. I don't need you dragging me down with you"

"What?"

"Get help. Otherwise, I can't be with you as friends or anything else"

AN: I'm too lazy to write an author's note. Reviews appriciated


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